


That's gotta bite

by CravenWyvern



Series: DS Extras [46]
Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 17:51:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19932076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CravenWyvern/pseuds/CravenWyvern
Summary: Really, at the end of the day, Willow was pretty sure she was doing pretty good for herself.She had Bernie, she had her old empty lighter, and a wimpy vampire.So everything was working out just fine.





	That's gotta bite

Footsteps, down the alley, one after the other. The dark of night was new, dusk ending and the moon rising in its half shined self, and the woman glanced behind her to make sure she was still being followed.

She flashed a smile, fake, fighting the natural crookedness of her face to make an attempt at looking appealing, and the stranger behind her was still fumbling with his wallet, still with a furrowed face and sweaty forehead.

He was a big man, and it was an ironic thing, or at least hella funny for his little shiny ring to be still set on his finger, the faint light from the street lanterns lighting up the path just a bit. Her plan was working perfectly.

“An’ how much you want then, doll? You got a place down here or what, cause I’m a busy guy and this sorta thing isn't my usual, you know.” 

He didn’t sound nervous, at least, more like putting on airs, and Willow was able to lead him about a corner before turning on her heel, hands on her hips as she looked him up and down. And, according to plan, the fellow stopped right where he needed to be.

His eyes glanced up, giving her a confused look, but before words could be spoken there was another pair of footsteps, quieter, lighter but there.

The man turned about, licking his lips and now adopting that trademark nervousness, and Willows grin broke into something crooked. Her ploy worked.

The thin silhouette in the shadows wavered, glasses flashing from the faintest of lights, and the man before her heaved a deep breath.

“What, who the hell are you? You the one I’m paying or something?”

The figure hesitated, looked back and forth uneasily between the two, a fat man with wallet in hand and an expectant face, and the woman behind, absolutely madly grinning in glee.

“Uh.” he said, rather eloquently.

And then Willow had the brick in her hand and bashed the fellows head in. He dropped like a rock, sagging down instantly, and for a moment she was hissing in a breath and almost considering finishing the job.

“Wil-Willow, what the hell!?”

And then the moment was ruined, the other man practically jumping as he rushed to the fallen mans side, gloved hands fluttering about in shock, and she heaved a sigh, tossing her makeshift weapon aside.

“I told you I’d find something, and I did.” She walked over, narrowed her eyes as she watched him attempt to find a pulse, and rolled her eyes when he heaved a sigh at succeeding. “Don’t be a pussy, I got you dinner.”

“I, I never asked you-”

“Just fucking eat him already, god.” 

The man gave her a rather pathetic look over his glasses, already sliding down his long nose, and he heaved a sigh as he adjusted them.

“I told you already, I, I don’t eat people.” He hunched his shoulders, shifting to sit on his knees, clasping his hands together as he looked away and started to mumble instead. “It’s just the blood…”

“Uh huh.” Willow walked around the unconscious body and sat down with finality, giving him an expectant look. “You gonna do this or what?”

He frowned, all watery and drawn thin, but his hands fluttered about without too much hesitancy and reached for the man's arm, turning to reveal the wrist and eyeing it critically.

Willow pursed her lips, took note of his shakiness, the trembles that wracked his bony frame, and wondered if she should be doing this more often.

She, what, ate a couple times a day, right? At least three times, when she had the money on hand. But her now companion seemed to only feed a few times a week, sometimes even less. That wasn’t her fault, right?

He caught her staring, the gloved grip he had not really obscuring the obvious talons digging a bit into fatty skin, and it almost sent another crooked grin about her face at the almost flushed, embarrassed look he gave her, enunciated even more so by the glasses. He leaned away from her expectant look, gaze darting elsewhere, and it was so fucking entertaining to make him flustered just by _staring_.

“Can you...do you have to watch?” 

She barked out a laugh, narrowed her eyes and watched him squirm, before she turned her head and caught sight of the fallen wallet. That was an immediate snatching up, unfolding the leather and digging around for anything useful, finally giving her companion some peace of mind. Now, this was what she was talking about, right here, fat bills in hand and a lovely little credit card!

“You, you shouldn't take all of that.” The glare she shot him made him cower a moment, but he still talked, thin voice hazy and a bit wobbly weak. “At least leave him a bit to get home by? I feel so terrible about stealing…”

The deadpan look that she leveled him, looking to the exposed wrist he still had a moderately tight, shaky grip on, made him huff and shift in embarrassment, not meeting her gaze as he grazed his bottom lip in an almost bite, but not quite.

The fangs there flashed, longer than usual, and even thought he was obviously fighting it and stalling for time, Willow could tell he was drooling.

“And sucking his blood isn’t as bad or something?” That made him look sad, hunching his shoulders, and the moment he opened his mouth, fangs flashing as he forcefully attempted to let go of what she had worked so hard to get to him, Willow snarled and snapped back in irritation. “Will you just fucking eat already!”

Her outburst made him flinch, talons curling a probably crushing grip back around, but he only met her gaze a moment before finally, finally, finally! Getting it into his fucking head that he’ll pass out if he didn’t do anything about it.

Willow side eyed him as he ducked his head down, raised the bare wrist up to long, tapered sharp fangs, and it still sent a shudder of nerves up her spine to see them slice into and pass under pale skin like that, the bulge of veins being pierced into. There was a hint of blood, dribbling down, but then he was leaning forward and adopting a more predatory stance, clutching tight to the arm he had, and Willow watched, a bit wide eyed, as her vampiric partner got down to feeding.

A little more frantically than usual, but that was probably cause he hasn't eaten this whole past week. The fact that, with each passing day, she could see him getting paler and thinner and more ditzy had been a bit nerve wracking, in all honesty. She’s seen him collapse on empty before, and it really wasn’t pretty.

Also, she really didn’t want to be on the other end of those fangs any time soon. 

Willow absentmindedly rubbed the faint scarring on her own wrist, belly twisting squeamishly as she watched him shift his weight and close his narrowing eyes with a low, curdling hiss of sound. That one sounded more like contentment than anything else, but she still didn’t really have a grasp on vampire noises so Willow instead scooted back a bit, just incase.

It wasn’t all that often, but sometimes he got territorial if she was too close and she really didn’t want to see bloody fangs hissing at her right now.

Turning her attention away, frowning as she stubbornly ignored the low humming hisses and almost purrs, Willow got back to counting out the bills she now was in possession of.

The card she’d be able to use a few times, before it was probably gonna be shut down and she’d need to throw it away, but the guy had a lot of hard cash on him and she quickly stuffed those away in her pocket, rolling them up and rubber banding them together. 

For the sake of showing she had been listening, however, Willow did leave a couple of fives behind, safely stowed away in the man's wallet. 

There were a couple of other cards, memberships and a license, and Willow hesitated a moment before flipping through the few pictures left still.

Nothing much besides family, it looked like. Her eyes glided over the image of the man with a toddler on his knee, a little girl grinning bright to the camera, before curling her lip and closing the wallet with finality.

By now William seemed to be slowing down, still hunched over, but he was definitely more in his right mind because he had shifted himself into trying to obscure what he was doing from her. While Willow would tease him on the fact that he seemed so embarrassed at it all, she was still a bit grateful. She wasn’t a naturally squeamish person, not at all, but something about his posture, pupiless eyes and ghostly pale skin, the curved talons and the jutting fangs that pushed under skin so easily, whatever the fuck that was up with his tongue, the whole shebang really sent something primally terrified up her spine to pool in her chest.

Fighting a flight or fight instinct whenever she watched him eat was kinda annoying.

After a moment he pulled away, Willow making a face as those fangs slid away out from underneath skin, and he glanced over at her, blank as the shine of his glasses obscured his face a moment.

“You, uh.” Willow pointed to her chin, the corner of her mouth, and William blinked at her in stilted silence, before suddenly coming back to himself and turning his face, wiping the blood from his mouth away quickly. “Yeah.”

“S-sorry.”

His voice wasn’t as thin anymore, and he sounded slowed. The fact that he was shifting himself so lethargically, talons only holding a light grasp about the wrist, pressing pressure to the incision he had made to stop the blood flow, was pretty indicative enough.

Willow sighed, dug around in her pockets, and took out a sort of used handkerchief. Scooting over this time, watching him tense up but ignoring it, she reached out and took the arm from his taloned hold, wrapping it up in a makeshift bandage with a neat little knot on top.

William let her do as she pleased, hand falling to his lap, and his breathing was a bit ragged still but slow, deeper.

She wrinkled her nose, dropping the arm down to the alleyways concrete. He smelled like blood, and grave dirt.

Much like a corpse, actually.

They sat in silence, Willow still fighting her unease, a twitching frown on her face as she idly stared at the man she had lured down here. In all honesty, she was still surprised whenever the vampire didn’t actually kill them.

She’s seen him do it. Afterwards he said it was an accident, but Willow didn’t blame him for it.

Being assaulted cause of bad decisions she made in her life and then having those attackers be cut into and then sucked dry by a random ass cryptid wasn’t really something she could have ever cooked up, but honestly she was grateful. She owed a lot to him for that, even though he hadn’t quite meant it.

She was pretty sure he’d have attacked her too, if she had been alone instead. Killed her even, maybe, but for once luck was actually on her side.

She didn't really believe in luck or fate or anything, but what had happened had happened, and now she was apparently helping a blood drinking monster out by luring unsuspecting idiots to be fed upon.

There was shifting by her side, and she tensed as he leaned against her, a blood curdling hissing sound that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and she grit her jaw and reminded herself that yes, she was in fact essentially feeding a vampire, something that shouldn’t even exist and yet still sat by her side now, leaning up against her.

Almost like a cat, and Willow fought the urge of flight as her heart rate picked up, the smell of blood thicker in the air for a moment as he exhaled, the brush of touch as she felt him press his face to her hair, the lightest of touches to her arm, not quite her wrist thank god, but the hook talons still grazed her, made her swallow hard.

And then he finally pulled away, scooted a more comfortable distance between them, and she was hissing in shallow breaths as the instinctive terror faded, hands still grabbing tight to her skirt, bunching up the fabric. 

“...Sorry.”

He looked downcast, face emotionless as he turned his head away, and Willow exhaled as much of the stress she still had in her as best as she could, loosening her grip. 

This was sorta all sorts of fucked up, now that she looked back to the collapsed unconscious man before her, a little less blood in his system than before. She was fucking feeding people to a vampire.

But William…really wasn’t all that bad. Not like what a lot of the stories and media seemed to suggest at least. Frankly, this was probably a terrible example of a vampire and Willow wondered if it was better that she was saddled with a weirdo nerdy one instead of the stories of blood sucking creeps.

Well, at least he didn’t sparkle in the sun. 

More like started smoking and sizzling and literally catching flame, left some pretty bad scars behind that took a bit to heal, and while Willow liked seeing those wreaths of flames on a person, the fact that it was William on fire sort of dulled the experience.

Willow took another steadying breath of air and made herself stand up, pushing thoughts into the back of her mind. He had just eaten, so he was gonna be real slowed down for awhile, and that meant getting him somewhere with a ceiling so he’d not be out when the sun rose. She didn’t know the time, but it was probably close to midnight at the very least.

Running on empty like he had been, William had taken a bit to fill up again. It was the reason Willow had targeted a big guy, someone with meat on his bones and probably a shit ton of blood.

Willow had no idea how anatomy worked, and she really didn’t care all that much to find out.

She busied herself with adjusting the guys body, made it look as best as she could as if he had just tripped or something, and the handkerchief on his wrist showed no sign of spotting, which was good. For a wimp, William was pretty good at not making a big, dramatic mess.

“Alright, I have enough money for another night at that hotel, and I’m gonna need my sleep so we should head back.” That earned her a rather delayed nod, and William still wasn’t looking at her, face drawn into a frown of sorts. When he didn’t even bother getting up, Willow staring down at him with her hands on her hips, she sighed in exasperation. “You gonna sit here all night or what?”

When that didn’t get her an answer, her vampiric companion quiet and not meeting her gaze, seemingly more lost in thought than anything else, Willow found herself at an impasse, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought.

“If you want alone time I can leave, but this isn’t a really good place to hang around.” She gestured to the collapsed man, though William was obviously not watching her. “He’ll wake up at some point.”

That got him to turn his gaze to the body, and Willow watched the flashes of emotion on his face before he shook his head, face going back into a frown.

If she thought about it some more, he almost looked like he still wanted to feed. But the fellow on the ground didn't have much blood left to spare and Willow knew for a fact that William was full, he’d be fine.

She was pretty sure of that, at least. That’s a lot of blood to drink and get filled up with, and she chalked up the tenseness to just vampire stuff.

She’s asked him before, on what drinking blood was like. Not really the taste or anything, but more on the act, because she was curious and interested and still coming to terms with the thought that vampires were actually fucking real.

The answer she got was sort of confusing, and not really well articulated, in the usual way that William talked, but it was a clear enough answer: drinking blood, especially human, felt _good_.

At the time Willow had poked and pried and teased, made a few ill worded, badly thought out jokes, and maybe she had still been coming to terms that this was reality, that she really had met a vampire and it was a real thing that literally drank peoples blood. It couldn’t be said that Willow was the best at thinking her words out carefully.

In the end it was her joking of _turning_ her, slipping so easily from her mouth as it had, that snapped the camel's back. Having William rear up at her, loomingly tall and snarling fangs and too many sharp teeth, eyes that glowed and that were so inhumanly pale, pupiless, shut her up real fast. So far, that was the only time he’s ever gotten so aggressive with her, and the fear then had not just been instinctive but real true terror, memories of the bodies left behind in the vampires wake rising to the front of her mind.

He had apologized after, wobbly and nervous and ashamed, and Willow had taken a breath and said that it was her fault, she shouldn’t joke so lightly about something like that. Her words then had calmed him down, and after that the tense atmosphere became a bit more companionable.

Apparently, feeding someone on a mostly consistent basis really helped strengthen bonds.

Unfortunately, that also left a bit of an awkwardness to this that Willow really could have lived without.

“...Alright, nope, we’re going to the hotel.” 

Without waiting for an answer she trudged over and got a hold onto him and his stupidly old looking suit, yanking William up with a hissy yelp. He swayed, the bony feeling of him a little more softened now, heavier, as if he wasn’t quite used to the new weight all that blood gave him, and Willow had to suffer the brunt of him as he almost fell back down, leaning against her shoulder. His talons were not so exaggerated anymore, catching onto her shirt as he tried to steady himself, and he spoke slow and sluggish but it was enough to tell he was embarrassed.

“Willow, it’s, you don’t have to-” He got cut off as he wavered, and Willow eyed him as he closed his eyes, adopting an oddly nauseated look. Leaning against her, using her for balance and this close, it was hella odd to hear the faint gurgling of his insides, the faintest traces of heat that was starting to flow back to life through his pale skin.

Standing there, with a vampire ill from eating nothing for too long and then binging too quick, Willow wondered on if she should evaluate her life choices.

But eventually he shifted his weight, still using her like a crutch but not as much, and then a few moments after he slowly stood up, swaying ever so slightly as Willow pulled away.

She wondered, rather briefly, if working at a nursing home was like this, baring the blood drinking of course. William looked to be old enough for one, though from what she’s gathered he was really fucking old at this point.

She didn’t have an exact date, but he knew practically nothing about modern technology, and apparently only recently “woke up”, as he put it.

Would be nice to get some clear answers for once, but Willow found that, really, she didn’t care all that much. If he didn’t feel the need to prod her about her own history, then she’ll let his own past be as shrouded as it was. Wasn’t any of her business anyway.

“I’m...sorry. About that, I mean.”

William had opened his eyes, pale narrowed things before he pushed his sliding glasses back up to obscure them, and Willow gave him a look and wondered why she’s never heard of a vampire with glasses before. 

Maybe cause it made him look hella nerdy. Pretty sure vampires were not supposed to give off that sort of vibe.

“Pfff, don’t eat so fast next time then!” She brushed off his apology, shrugging as she turned away, looking back up the alley and to the street. The lights were still on, still strong, but not many people out and about now. The closer it came to the new day, the less people walked about.

Probably because these were the hours where unsightly, slimy things crawled about and did their business about the city.

The hotel she was staying at wasn't far, she didn't like venturing out for this sort of thing too far away from her lodgings and what little belongings she had stowed away, so the walk wasn't all that bad. Stepping out into the street, the pale lights and hum of electricity, alone of people thankfully, Willow heaved a sigh.

At least she had gotten a good haul for this. A good stack of twenties in her pocket, a useable card, and a fully fed vampire.

Not too shabby, if you asked her.

William dogged her steps, almost silent besides the bit of shifting and the lightest of steps, void of breathing besides her own. He avoided the lights as best as he could, Willow rolling her eyes whenever he had to dart on the outskirts to keep up with her, and she's already tried to explain to him that he didn't really need to go through with that effort but he was uncompromisingly stubborn when it came down to it. She just had to chalk it up to flubbed instincts, since he obviously didn't trust her.

Then again, she was no vampire expert. 

As he brushed close to her back, cowering close, almost stepping at her shoes as he attempted to hide in her shadow from another overhead light, Willow wondered if finding an expert would make this easier for her.

She didn't comment on the fact that sometimes his hands reached out, brushed against her arms, almost protectively even before pulling away just as quickly. 

William backed off when she arrived at the front of the hotel, a mumbled mutter at her ear that might have been words, but when she turned her head he was already gone, leaving her alone. The silence sent shivers up her spine, gritting her jaw and shaking her head, exasperated and a bit frustrated now, but there was a reason he didn't accompany her into the building.

For one, apparently he needed to be invited in. For two, she had only paid for a room for herself, no one else. That would have cost extra.

She had a little key card for her door, the lobby empty and only the odd sound here and there from other hotel patrons, and after one flight upstairs she rounded a few corners and opened up the small space she had paid the night for.

A couple of nights now, with this money in her pocket. Eventually they'll have to go somewhere else, hotels aren't exactly long term and she'll need to find other hunting grounds for him, but for right now the place was better than nothing.

Small, shabby, but it didn't smell and she had a bathroom to boot, so all was going pretty well so far.

There was a light knocking at the window, polite and quiet, and Willow shut the door behind her before pushing away the curtains.

William stood there, solemn and sort of imposing with his glowing eyes in the dark, besides for the fact that he was a bit hunched and balancing as best as he could, crouched and clinging to the windows bars and the roofs very sloped overhang. He gave her a rather pitiful look in response to her wiggling smirk that she was unsuccessfully hiding.

"Come in for fuck's sake, you're gonna slide right off if you stay there much longer." Clicking open the window, taking a step back, and Willow watched as the vampire scrambled his way inside, an inelegant mess to slither into a collapsed pile on the floor. The window itself would hardly fit her if she really tried, and while William was thinner he was a bit clumsy and disorienting when it came to his limbs.

Good thing he had hidden away his wings already; those just wouldn't fit through no matter how hard he'd try.

"Sorry, sorry. You, uh, took a bit to get up here."

As he scrambled himself back upright Willow rolled her eyes, turning away to fiddle with her bag of belongings, squirreling away half of the money she had gained tonight. Pulling out some pajamas and a toothbrush, eyeing him as he brushed off his suit and tried to adjust himself, she walked over to the bathroom and flicked on the light.

"Can't just flap my little wings like you and be up here in less than a minute, now can I?" She got a toothy frown as she flapped her hands, smirking crookedly before ducking into the bathroom.

"...they're not little." 

She almost missed his reply, but she snorted at it before clicking the door shut, turning to the mirror and getting ready for bed. Being jobless, homeless, and feeding a vampire did not mean she could just forget hygiene or her own comforts.

Brushing her teeth, baring them a moment just to eye and compare how dull hers looked with what William had, Willow wondered if he even brushed his teeth. Not having to eat stuff that stuck up in the mouth must be one of the pros then.

Then again, blood stained. Maybe she should get him a toothbrush of his own sometime; if tar and plaque can gunk up a dog and cats mouth, then she was pretty sure a vampires fangs needed to be cleaned too.

He was sitting on one of the chairs when she came out, black and red pajamas very oddly compared to his still dull lavender suit, and she watched a moment as he browsed one of the magazines left in the room.

She knew he had a book hidden away somewhere, something important to him, but apparently he was more interested in reading the latest of fashion right now than whatever the hell was in that dusty old tome. Her own curiosity did get her a few times, but so far whenever she so much as laid a finger on the cover he was there, snatching it away and chiding her on not looking through his things.

"Hey, I'm going to bed now."

William made a hum of noise, an answer as she made her way to the bed, and she glanced at him one more time as he flipped a page, seemingly engrossed with the magazine and all its ads.

It was still kind of...awkward, sleeping in a room with him just sitting there, but she just had to remind herself that he was just a vampire. All he might do is sneak a nibble or something, nothing too bad really.

And, if worse came to worse, Willow busying herself under the covers and snuggling down, thankful for the lack of horrid little bugs, she did have Bernie. The bear had sat vigil all for her, protecting this room, and now she had him in her arms and Willow hugged him tight. He'd protect her, as he always has.

Her old lighter sat on the table beside the bed, next to the lamp, and it was antique and empty but it held a lot of sentimental value and she kept a good eye on it, as did Bernie.

William had been interested at first, twisting and turning it in his hands with a funny expression on his face, but she had snatched it from him immediately, forbidden him from touching it, what if he broke it or dropped it or did something stupid with it, but so far he hasn't done anything like that, hasn't broken her trust. He had complimented Bernie once, which was a good thing, so at least the vampire was polite.

And that probably meant he wouldn't end up attacking and eating her one night in the future. If she hasn't already seen him kill and eat people already Willow would have thought the guy was an honestly nice, sorta weird and awkward person, just a random joe schmo. 

Except for his getup. Do vampires just not have a fashion sense, or did they just wear one outfit for the rest of their undead lives? Willow was seriously debating on buying him new clothes sometime.

"Goodnight, William." Her sleepy voice didn't get an answer, and Willow huffed, closing her eyes.

As Willows conscious started to drift, sleep taking her after a rather exciting day of pick pocketing money and feeding a vampire, Bernie the Bear held tight in her grip, there was a slight squeak and drag of sound of the chair.

She was too under the haze of almost sleep to open her eyes, but there was a cold warmth of a hand on her head, for a moment, the mumble of a thin voice.

"Goodnight...Charlie."

And then sleep claimed her, and the beginnings of an odd dream, one of fire and smoke and, weirdly enough, shadows and roses and the swirled thin fog of memory not her own.


End file.
